Oddballs
by Interspark
Summary: Personality-wise, Gems are a very diverse race. There are more kinds of Gems than there are stars in the sky, whether the Diamonds like it or not, from warmhearted Jaspers to renegade Pearls, from off-colour Agates to lovesick Rubies. The Great Diamond Authority demands Gems that fit in, these are the stories of the Gems that don't.
1. Renegade Rubies

The Diamonds have a great many expectations of the Gems that serve them; obedience, loyalty, respect and fear, but one of their most unreasonable expectations, is of uniformity. Put simply, the Diamonds expect every Gem of the same cut, to behave the same way. Rubies are expected to be determined, Pearls are expected to be formal and respectful, and Quartz soldiers are to be fiercely loyal and loyally fierce. But expecting something, doesn't necessarily mean you'll get it...

Across the universe, from Homeworld, to earth and beyond, there are thousands of Gems, as unique as the Diamonds who made them. These are their stories...

Our first story begins on Homeworld, during the great Gem War of Earth, with Ruby squad Epsilon 42. The squad consisted of four very different Rubies, and one of the things that made them unique, was that they gave each other names. First, there was Burma, easily the mildest of the four, with a tendency to flinch if anyone so much as raised their voice. Her Gem was on her chest, and her form was the pinkest shade of red. The second, was called Marbles, distinguished by her excitable nature and her sense of humour. Her Gem was on the back of her left hand. Then, there was Spicy, named after her fiery temper, with a Gem on her thigh.

The last member of the Ruby squad was Star. Her name was the most obvious choice, since she was a Star Ruby. Six white lines expanded from the centre of the Gem on her forehead, and then over her form. While not technically off-colours, Star Rubies were rare enough to be frowned upon, and upper class Gems tended to turn their noses up at her, as though she was unpleasant to look at. Conversely, Star was one of the sweetest and kindest Gems on Homeworld. She was always the first to notice when another member of the squad was upset, and was quick to comfort them, any way she could.

As with many tight-knit Gem squads (particularly ones that were required to fuse), squad Epsilon 42 had grown very close over the centuries, to the point that their affection and loyalty for each other became a source of discomfort for their Morganite commander, a tall, sinister, pink Gem, with a black cape, and flowing, white hair. The fact that they were a perfectly adequate Ruby squad, though, meant that she couldn't separate them, without a reason. But unfortunately for the Rubies, a reason arrived...

Homeworld was losing the battle on earth, so Gems were being enlisted from across Gem space, and when the Rubies' Morganite was tasked with providing extra soldiers, it was with a sadistic smirk, that she said she knew just the Gem. She leapt at an opportunity to break up the Ruby squad, and it was an easy choice, choosing the Ruby to deploy. Not only was the Star Ruby distasteful to look at, she was often the one encouraging the others to indulge in their controversial emotions.

The Rubies shared a tearful hug, under Morganite's disapproving sneer. Their outrage (particularly in Spicy's case) at being split up, was just barely pacified by Morganite's dismissive comment that Star would probably return once the war ended. It was just a few months later, though, that disturbing news reached Homeworld- the rebel leader, Rose Quartz had shattered Pink Diamond... The Rubies wanted to be glad that the war was over, but their Gems ached with anxious foreboding, for what would come next.

The three Rubies were sitting in a small room, in one of Homeworld's many guard posts, writing dull reports about their recent patrols. Spread thin as Gemkind was, they were the only Gems in the building, or at least, they thought they were, until the doors slid open, and Morganite strolled into the room, her head held high.

"Rubies, I have good news." She announced, although her sinister smile didn't give the Rubies any joy. "The war is over."

Burma ran over, with a cautious smile. "They found Rose Quartz!?"

"They captured all the rebels?" Marbles suggested.

Morganite gave a long, sinister laugh. " _Found? Captured?_ Whatever for? No, in our Diamonds' infinite wisdom, they have purged the earth of Gems. The rebel army has been eradicated."

"Wh... what?" Burma squeaked.

"Pink was only shattered two rotations ago!" Spicy pointed out, with a threatening suspicion in her voice. "How did they evacuate all the Homeworld forces in that time...?"

Morganite gave a condescending smirk, and when that didn't get the reaction she'd hoped for, she elaborated. "They didn't."

Marbles held her mouth in shock, Burma's eyes started to water, and Spicy angrily cried out, "WHAT!?"

Morganite turned sideways, as though preparing to leave. "Prepare to be dispatched. New Kindergartens are being established off-world to replace the Gems we lost. I'm assigning you to guard duty at one. Who knows? Maybe they'll make some new Rubies to fill out your squad."

As she turned to leave, Spicy ran forwards and grabbed her cape. "What about Star!?" She demanded.

Morganite cringed, and effortlessly kicked Spicy away, sending her sliding across the room, where Burma and Marbles caught her and started helping her up. "What _about_ your hideous little friend?" She sneered.

Still holding her partners' hands, Spicy cried out furiously. The three Rubies' forms turned bright white as they fused. The fusion shot to her feet, with her fist in the air and, before Morganite could do more than flinch, the fusion squashed her like a bug, disrupting her form with a burst of smoke and sending a round, pink Gem clattering to the floor. The Ruby fusion hesitated for a second, before forcefully separating.

"What have we done!?" Marbles cried, holding her head.

Burma was distraught for different reasons. She sat on the floor and hugged her knees. "Star can't really be gone... can she?" She asked, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"You bet your Gem she can't!" Spicy insisted, pointing at her. "I'm not just gonna believe some rock head like her." She picked up Morganite's Gem and sealed it inside a red bubble. "We're going to earth. We're gonna find out for ourselves."

"But... how are we gonna get to earth?" Marbles asked.

"We don't even know where exactly Star was stationed..." Burma pointed out.

"No..." Spicy agreed, stroking her chin, thoughtfully. "We gotta find someone who will."

-x-x-x-

Not far from the guard post, was a large prison. Most of the Gems held here were rebels, who had been captured before Pink's shattering, and were awaiting trials, but not the one the Rubies had come to see. As they crossed the building's threshold though, they found the entrance guarded by an imposing green Gem, with a dark green pant suit, and hair in a tight, lime green bun. She was a Moss Agate.

"What are you three doing here?" She asked, suspiciously.

"Uhhh well..." Burma tried.

"Hah... funny story actually..." Marbles continued.

"Our commander was just shattered on earth." Spicy announced, confidently. "We've been assigned to auxiliary guard duty, by blue Diamond. We're at your service, Agate!" She saluted, and Burma and Marbles quickly followed suit.

Moss Agate rolled her eyes, as though the Rubies were a nuisance. "Very well, patrol the corridor, until I say otherwise."

The Rubies marched past Agate with military discipline, until they rounded a corner, at which point, they sprinted past the cells, looking for their target. The corridors were lined with cells, each one secured with a Gem-destabilising field. Most of them had Gems inside, some of whom were happy to give them directions, and before long, they found who they had come to see.

In one, lonely cell, far from anyone else, sat a small, pink Gem, with her back to the corridor. Her hair was in a pair of bushy, short pigtails, and she wore a sleek, purple dress, which spilled across the floor, where she sat, like a pool of water.

"Psst!" Spicy hissed, once the group found her. "Hey, we need to talk to you!"

There was a pause. "I know..." The Gem eventually said. "I knew you were coming, I know what you're going to ask, and I know what you'll do with the information..." The Gem turned around, revealing a large, singular eye, half-closed in depression, and a round, Pink Gem with a triangular facet at the base of her neck. "So why didn't I know what was going to happen to her!?"

Pink Diamond's Sapphires had been rounded up, the second the news got out. None of them had seen it coming, and no one was sure why they'd been detained, or what was to happen to them. Would they be punished? Disposed of? Experimented on? It didn't bear thinking about.

"We're sorry about what happened to Pink." Burma offered.

"I don't care about..." The Pink Sapphire began. "I mean... she was great, and it sucks what happened to her! But..." She knelt down on the floor again. "What's wrong with me...?"

"Do you... need anything?" Marbles asked. "We could bust you out if you want?"

"No... you couldn't..." Sapphire corrected, with a sigh. "Just grab the data disk off the wall behind you."

Burma turned around, and found what looked like a round sheet of glass, with text lining the outside.

"Now listen carefully. I'll tell you how to get out of here, how to steal a ship that will take you to earth, and where you'll find your friend..."

For several minutes, Burma recorded Sapphire's meticulous instructions, occasionally even telling them how many steps they'd need to take, and how many seconds to wait, for guard patrols to pass them by. When she was finished, Burma squeezed the outside of the disk, and it vanished, with a flash of light.

"Thank you..." She said to Sapphire. "I'm really sorry... about everything..."

The other two Rubies thanked her too, and they began walking away. Just before they left earshot, they heard Sapphire sigh, "You're not going to like what you find..."

-x-x-x-

Sapphire's instructions worked perfectly, and by the time someone noticed that a Mark Three Light Kite was missing from the hangar, it was half way to earth, with the three Rubies aboard. The ship was a white diamond-shape, with a one-seater cockpit, beneath a glass dome. Luckily, it was built for Nephrites and Jets, so the three Rubies could just about squeeze into the seat.

The hazy blur of hyperspace faded away, revealing the earth. Immediately ahead of the Light Kite, was a debris field, of hundreds, if not thousands of Gem ships, blown apart, or simply inactive. After exiting hyperspace, the three Gems only had a few moments to stare in awe, at the planet, before it was obscured by a monolithic, dreadnought-class ship, which drifted past them, the kind that was crewed by hundreds of Gems, and could decimate mountains.

With a resolved frown, Spicy took the ship's wheel, and had it shoot forwards, zooming around the outside of the gigantic ship, so they could continue towards the earth. While Spicy drove, Marbles and Burma looked up at the ship, through the Kite's dome, looking through the larger ship's windows, at its gloomy, unlit interior.

Suddenly, Burma shrieked in alarm, causing Spicy to jump, and make the ship wobble slightly. "I just saw something move in there!"

Spicy frowned. "If there were any Gems still aboard, they would have radioed for help..." She flicked some switches on the console, and they played a buzzing static. "Nothing..."

Burma didn't bring it up again, but notably, she looked at the ship's floor, rather than out the window, for the rest of the flight. The Kite ducked in and out of the ship graveyard, and eventually, flames began to dance across the ship's dome announcing that they had reached the planet's atmosphere. Eventually, the flames passed, and the ship darted through a layer of fluffy clouds, revealing, to the Rubies' wonder, a sprawling, green countryside.

Burma summoned her data disk again, and guided Spicy as she flew over mountains, oceans and deserts, on route to the location Pink Sapphire had said they'd find Star, and eventually, the ship landed high up a mountain, outside a dark cave.

The Rubies climbed out, awed by the howling winds, and breathtaking view, but they wouldn't be distracted. Shoulder to shoulder, they approached the cave.

"Star! Are you in there?" Marbles called.

"Stand to attention, soldier!" Spicy added, with a nervous tremble to her voice.

As they closed in, the Gems noticed something moving, in the darkness. They froze, and slowly, the thing in the cave began to emerge, with a deep, sinister growl. As the sunlight hit it, the Rubies realised it was a ferocious earth feline, the size of a Jasper, with blood red fur, and a flaming orange mane. Before they could retreat, the creature roared and leapt at them, pinning Spicy to the ground.

"What have you done with our friend...!?" Spicy grunted, as she struggled to force the animal's teeth away from her.

With a confident nod to each other, Burma and Marbles grabbed Spicy's shoulders and, a flash of light later, the three-Ruby fusion was hurling the red cat over her shoulder. The action caused the animal's mane to fly backwards, revealing an unmistakable red Gem on its forehead, with six white lines, expanding from the centre.

"Star...?" The Ruby fusion gasped, a tear rolling down her face. "What... what happened to you?"

The corrupted Star Ruby snarled cautiously and began to advance. The fusion dropped to one knee and held her hands out invitingly.

"Star, it's me! I came to find you!"

Star very slowly stepped towards the fusion, and gradually stopped growling. When she was close enough, the fusion rested a hand on the side of her face, and the corruption looked up at her with desperation and fear in her eyes. Even without any words, it was clear that Star didn't know who she or the other Rubies were... but she knew that she should...

Slowly, the fusion wrapped her arms around Star, and buried her face in her fur. "It's okay Star... Whatever happened to you... we're never leaving you again."

Slowly, a glowing, white light consumed the two figures, and when it faded away, one enormous, red cat curled up on the ground, and went to sleep.

-x-x-x-

Thousands of years later, and not far away, an ear-splitting crash send a flock of birds flying from a forest's canopy. Between the trees, the corrupted Ruby fusion recoiled from a devastating punch from Garnet, new leader of the Crystal Gems. The fusion backed away a few steps, before having to leap to avoid a spear, throw by Pearl, and finally, getting ensnared by Amethyst's whip, and slammed into a tree.

The force caused the fusion to come undone. With a flash of light, four red cats with orange manes climbed to their feet, and growled at the Crystal Gems.

"Aww..." Steven commented, standing next to Garnet, with his shield on his arm. "They're so cute!"

The corruptions backed cautiously towards each other, and soon took their eyes off the Crystal Gems, and leapt into a pile. With a second flash of light, they fused back together.

Although Amethyst and Steven didn't seem fased, Garnet and Pearl shared a stunned look. Garnet dispersed her gauntlets.

"I've... never seen corrupted Gems willingly fuse before..." Pearl noted.

Garnet looked at the fusion, as it backed away from her and growled quietly. Garnet smiled, and then turned around. "Come on, everyone. Let's go home."

Amethyst looked confused. She stretched her whip between her hands. "We're not gonna..."

"No." Garnet interrupted. "She's not hurting anyone."

* * *

 **Hey all, hope you liked this first chapter. In case you can't tell, it's gonna be a short story anthology, which I've wanted to write for a while. I've got a bunch of ideas I'm excited to do, but they won't last forever, so if you've got any ideas, let me hear 'em! If I like them, I'll credit you, if I don't, I'll try to give constructive feedback. Anyway, hope you look forward to the rest!**


	2. Pining for Pining Hearts

Deep in Era 2, the latest buzz on Homeworld, was the upcoming arrival the Diamonds' new geoweapon- the Cluster. An enormous Gem mutant, the size of a gas giant, which could destroy enemies to Gemkind, by the planet load. The latest news was that the Peridot sent to earth had reported that it would emerge soon. What was less common knowledge, was that she had gone on to shout verbal abuse at Yellow Diamond, for refusing to abort the Cluster. That information was privy only to the Gems who needed to know.

In one of Homeworld's many surveillance hubs, a building resembling a jagged, blue crystal stalagmite, two Peridots were tasked with locating the rogue, and ensuring she wasn't a threat to Homeworld. Being an insignificant, Era 2 Peridot, this was all her defection warranted, unlike the behemoth of a Jasper who had led the mission. A team of Rubies were being sent to personally recover her. The two Peridots were easily distinguished by one's limb enhancers, to make up for the short stature of most Era 2 Gems. The other, an Era 1 Peridot, was already tall enough to operate the equipment they'd be using.

"Alright, let's see here..." The shorter Peridot said, projecting a screen from her limb enhancer. "Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG... Crashed her ship on earth, insisted the Cluster be terminated and..." She covered her mouth, suppressing a laugh. "... and called Yellow Diamond a clod!"

"What!?" The other laughed. "I can't even look her in the eye without flinching..."

"Alright..." The first said, calming down. "Let's see here."

On a large, flat console, a screen flickered into life, displaying fluffy clouds, shooting past. Several million lightyears away, a small drone was zooming through earth's sky, heading for 5XG's last known location.

"Engaging cloak now." The Era 1 Peridot said, resting her hands on the console for a moment, making it light up, and a hologram of the drone appear, before turning transparent.

At the Peridots' command, the drone closed in on 5XG's last known location, finding rolling, green countryside, and in the distance, a dazzling, blue ocean. A small human settlement sat on the water, and a towering metropolis was just visible on the horizon, in the other direction. Closer than either, though, was a small structure, made of wood. Silent and invisible, the drone closed in on the building, and floated through the door. Inside, it found piles of human paraphernalia, primarily, components of primitive flight technology.

"Hold on, I'm picking something up on the audio receivers." The Era 2 Peridot said.

After sliding her hands back and forth on the console for a second, a voice could be heard. "... the canoe race! Today's the day the Yellow Team are getting back on top!"

The drone elevated to a second level, on one side of the barn, where the Homeworld Peridots were pleased to see 5XG, sitting on a couch, staring at some kind of earth video-audio display box.

"Ah, there she is." One of them said. "But... what's she doing?"

The drone hovered over 5XG's shoulder, looking at the screen with her. It displayed humans, racing across a lake, in manually-powered water vehicles, while several other humans excitedly cheered them on.

"Oh! How ironic! It seems she's carrying out some surveillance of her own!" The Era 1 Peridot noted. "But... I'm not picking up any radio waves from the device... Must be prerecorded..."

The two Peridots watched the screen, temporarily more interested in the events it portrayed, than 5XG. The humans concluded the race, and it seemed the ones with Yellow Diamonds on their uniforms had won, gaining prestige and accolades for their group. The focus shifted to a small group who began congratulating each other.

"Great going Percy!" One of the humans with longer hair cried, she threw her arms around another human and pressed her lips against the side of his face. "I knew you could do it!" The second human grinned and turned a darker shade of pink.

The two Peridots shared a nervous look, each noticing that the other was blushing slightly, too.

"Humans are really weird..." The Era 1 Peridot said, quietly. The other briskly nodded in agreement.

The two Peridots kept watching, as the events on the screen continued, occasionally delayed, as 5XG had to change the data disks the episodes were stored on, due to the limited capabilities of human technology. The humans went on to braid what they called "friendship bracelets", sleep in canvas shelters, cook food on open flames, despite the availability of food processing technology, and train themselves with extremely primitive, ranged weaponry. In between and during these activities, the humans would converse, regarding their emotional states, and opinions on each other.

"What is 5XG doing, watching this trash!?" The Era 2 Peridot eventually snapped. "The only thing she could possibly learn from this, is that humans are illogical, impractical, and _dumb_! Something any Gem who's been on earth as long as her, should already know!"

"Tell me about it..." The other agreed, rolling her eyes. "Just look at how they pair up for this bizarre... lip ritual! Paulette and Percy insist on forming a pair, even though they can't fuse, and aren't in battle, _and_ they're hopelessly incompatible! Obviously, a better choice for Percy would be..."

The Era 2 Peridot nodded in agreement, as the sentence reached its end, and tried to join in, with the conclusion... but failed...

"...Amanda!"

"...Blaine!"

"WHAT!?" They both cried.

"Amanda and Percy are too similar!" The Era 1 Peridot argued. "They would gain nothing by partnering with each other! Blaine was unbeatable at the 'archery' and is easily the most emotionally stable camper!"

"He's TOO good!" The other countered. "He would gain nothing from a partnership with Percy, and one would only lead to resentment from Blaine! Amanda on the other hand, can accentuate Percy's strengths, and vice versa! A partnership between them could mean exponential improvement and growth!"

The two fell silent, as though they'd suddenly remembered something, and shared an awkward look. The only sound, for a moment, was the current episode, playing through the console.

"Not that it matters!" The Era 2 Peridot said.

"Of course not!"

"Pointless earth nonsense..."

"Entirely hypothetical!"

Through the console, a voice called out, over the sound of the episode. "Hey Peridot, I was gonna take a look around town. I haven't really seen it, outside of the mirror. You wanna come?"

The drone turned, finding a blue Gem in a long skirt and halter top.

"A Lapis Lazuli?" The Era 1 Peridot noted, intrigued.

"Oh yes, she was in the report." The other remembered, looking at the screen on her limb enhancer. "Just 5XG's informant. She's inconsequential."

"Sure!" 5XG said, climbing down to the Lapis. "When we come back, do you wanna watch some Camp Pining Hearts with me?"

"What's that?"

As the two left the barn, 5XG began to excitedly recount what the Homeworld Peridot's had been learning over the past few hours. One of them placed her hands on the console.

"I... guess we should follow her." She said, uncertainly.

"Yeah..." The other added, with no more confidence. "Except I really feel like we should find out more about this Camp Pining Hearts!"

"Yes, I have unanswered questions!"

"Downloading it from earth's data network now..."

With 5XG almost entirely forgotten, the Peridots found that the show was a work of fiction (an alien concept to Gems) broken down into seven seasons of varying numbers of episodes. They began watching the first episode immediately. The minutes rolled into hours, and then days of watching the show, all the while arguing about their opinions on the characters, and taking increasingly infrequent breaks to check up on 5XG. Eventually, they had seen all seven seasons, and began to rewatch the episodes they had the most questions regarding, as well as studying actor and director interviews, and reading accompanying literature, including fanfiction.

A nagging bug was constantly at the back of the two Gem's minds, that they were behaving inappropriately and unproductively, but it wasn't enough to make them stop watching. It was exacerbated quite suddenly though, when the door to their surveillance room flew open. On the other side, was a Hessonite, a tall orange Gem, with luscious, yellow hair around her shoulders, joined by a hulking Jasper and Amethyst.

"What are you two still doing in here!?" Hessonite cried shrilly. "Your report was due two days ago!"

The Peridots tore their eyes from the screen and frantically saluted.

"Sorry Hessonite!"

"We've been writing our report, it's just..."

"There's been a lot of data to process and..."

Hessonite silenced them with a wave of her hand. With her other, she summoned a screen, displaying the report the Peridots had been writing. Sure enough, it was massively disproportionate to the nature of their mission. She scrolled through it very quickly, her eyes darting back and forth as she read.

"Camp Pining Hearts... Percy... William... marshmallows... Blue Team..." She muttered aloud, as she read.

Eventually, she pushed the Peridots aside, and began cycling through the episodes they had downloaded, playing clips, a few seconds at a time, as she read the relevant sections of the report. The Peridots, the Jasper and the Amethyst watched nervously (especially the Peridots), as they awaited Hessonite's reaction.

Eventually, she stopped the video, and dispersed the report. "What... is wrong with the two of you?" She said, quietly, before turning around, revealing her angry glare. "Are you defective!?"

"I... I'm sorry Hessonite... we just..."

"Why would you assume that this 'Percy' would only be suited to one of the other campers!? A viable battle formation should be made of at least five capable individuals!" Hessonite said, insistently.

"Well... earth culture has a strange insistence on binaries!" One of the Peridots said, defensively. "Humans often group up in pairs, based on..."

Again, Hessonite silenced her. "I shan't forsake the most obvious grouping, for the sake of illogical human customs... And that grouping is Percy, Pierre, Ryan and..." She stroked her chin thoughtfully for a moment. "Alright, play it again from the start. We're going to get to the bottom of this!"

One of the Peridots put Camp Pining Hearts season one, episode one on the monitor, and the five Gems gathered around to watch. More of the same ensued. While at first, the other Gems were hesitant to contradict Hessonite's controversial opinions, their passion for the show soon caught up with them.

"I'm just saying, Damian is a beast!" Jasper aggressively insisted, at one point. "He destroyed at baseball, can hold his breath underwater for twice as long as the other humans, and he's _huge_! Any of the other humans would just slow him down!"

"What!?" Amethyst retorted. "Were you even watching Melissa's 'fencing' earlier!? Heck, that human could beat _you_ in a fight!" She punched the Jasper playfully.

"In her dreams! But I guess she's at least the second-best camper..."

"Both are definitely strong contenders for the ideal unit." Hessonite agreed, nodding thoughtfully, as making adjustments on a data pad. "But individual strength is no match for a co-operative lineup."

Over a week had passed, since the Peridots' drone had entered the barn, when the door to the surveillance room slid open, revealing seven Rubies.

"Oh!" One of them remarked, in response to the taller, more imposing Gems' presence. "We didn't realise these facilities were in use. We were sent here for a mission briefing and..."

"Well you'll have to wait." Hessonite rudely interrupted. "This is far more important!"

"Oh... should we just... wait here then?" The Ruby asked, slowly making her way inside, with the others nervously following.

"Yes, fine, whatever."

Less than one episode later, all seven Rubies had become a part of the fandom, and the taller Gems were frequently pulling the more excitable ones off the console and out of the way, as they drifted towards it, at the more exciting scenes.

"Penelope is sooo pretty!" one cried, happily. "I hope she forms a pair with Melody! I think that would make them both happy!"

"Well actually, in season four..." One of the Peridots began.

"Shhh hey!" The other hissed, covering her mouth. "Don't spoil it for them!"

At one point, the Peridots manifested an enormous screen, spanning the width of a wall, and covered it with characters' names, then writing potential groupings, along with notes, and varied opinions, which the other Gems angrily shouted at them. The twelve Gems were in the midst of a particularly intense disagreement regarding Paulette's correct romantic placement, when the episode playing on the monitor cut out, and was replaced with a flashing, yellow diamond, quickly silencing the room.

"Uh oh..." Hessonite whispered.

The screen quickly displayed Yellow Diamond's furious face. "What is going on in there!? I asked for a report on the rogue Peridot six rotations ago! What is taking so long!?"

"W... well my Diamond... 5XG's behavior has been..." Hessonite nervously began.

Yellow Diamond pinched her forehead and sighed loudly, cutting Hessonite off. "Just upload your findings to me, and get back to work! She's not important enough to be consuming this much of your time..."

"Yes, my Diamond!"

Back in Yellow Diamond's control room, the temperamental matriarch was prepared to get back to work, when she glanced at the 5XG report, and noticed its massive size. Lifting an eyebrow in curiosity, she tapped on it, and pages and pages of text, charts and illustrations began to scroll past her screen. Her eyes darted back and forth, and then narrowed angrily.

" _This_ is what they were researching!?" She muttered to herself.

At Yellow Diamond's feet, her Pearl sat at a smaller workstation, also examining the data, stroking her chin thoughtfully. After a few minutes of both Gems studying, Pearl spoke up, "It doesn't seem like they explored Alex and Megan's relationship much, my Diamond..."

Yellow Diamond glared in disagreement, at the smaller Gem. "Pearl, disregard this nonsense and get back to work..."

"Yes... My Diamond." Pearl sighed.

The two worked in silence for a moment, before Yellow muttered, "Megan would clearly be better suited to..." She caught herself, mid-sentence, sighed in frustration and promptly deleted the report.


	3. A Mouse Before a Lion

**Hey all, sorry for the long delay. I've been super busy and also I had some doubts about this chapter half-way through. Hope you like it anyway though.**

* * *

In the height of the Gem War of earth, the two forces of Homeworld's army, and the Crystal Gems' rebel militia, crossed blades, in an open field. Hundreds of Gems fought furiously, the Homeworld forces led by a monstrous fusion of four Quartz soldiers, and the rebels, by the legendary Rose Quartz, who fronted the assault, slashing with her sword, dropping enemy Gems by the second.

Not far behind her, an orange Biggs Jasper with wild, white hair faught against a Topaz soldier, the former's warhammer clashing violently against the latter's quarterstaff. Eventually, Biggs made a mistake, leaving an opening, in which the Topaz thrust her elbow into Biggs' Gem, making her stumble backwards and notice, to her horror, that her Gem was cracked.

As Biggs stumbled, a hulking Bismuth with a bloodthirsty look in her eye, leapt over her shoulder and lunged at the Topaz. Her hand morphed into a semi-circular blade, with which she slashed, poofing the Topaz, before she even had a chance to defend herself. Bismuth turned around, and quickly took Biggs in her arms.

"Just drop me Bismuth..." Biggs insisted, her form flickering slightly. "We don't have time for this."

"Not a chance." Bismuth replied, through gritted teeth. "Hey Rose!" She shouted, over the din of the battle. "We got a Gem down over here!"

Rose thrust with her shield, forcing her current adversary back, before trading places with Pearl, fighting at her side with duel sabers. Rose leapt across the battlefield, the ringlets of her hair fluttering behind her, and over to the injured Gem.

"Rose... What are you doing!?" Biggs cried, weakly. "They need you on the front line!"

"You need me more." Rose replied, smiling sweetly.

Tears had already begun to roll down Rose's cheeks, as she looked upon her fallen sister. She drew a line under her eye with her finger, and placed it against Biggs' Gem. With a sparkle of light, the crack sealed itself, and the orange Jasper was back on her feet, and fighting fit. After a brief exchange of thanks and concerned gestures, the three Gems rushed back to the fight.

Hours passed, and the battle had moved on. The Gems who were fighting had either retreated, gone to fight elsewhere, or lay on the ground, in a pile of broken shards. Amongst the foliage that hadn't been trampled flat in the fight, was a lone blade of grass, weighed down slightly by a stray Rose Quartz tear, thoughtlessly discarded after Biggs was healed.

Eventually, gravity claimed the droplet and it fell, colliding, not with the ground, but the trampled flat remains of a field mouse. The eerie silence was broken by an angelic chime, and the gloom of dusk, was met with a gleaming light. Once both had faded, the mouse, who, several hours ago, had seen what she thought would be her last sight- the rapidly approaching sole of a Gem warrior, poked her head above the thicket of mangled grass.

Looking down, the mouse was surprised to see pink fur, on the back of her legs and paws, and just visible in her peripheral vision, bright pink whiskers. This was a strange and unexpected development. She _had_ been out foraging for food, but suddenly, she wasn't hungry, so instead, she turned around and scurried home.

The mouse bounded tirelessly across the field, at one point, even meaning to swim across a small pond, in her path, instead finding herself skipping across its surface. Eventually, she came to the tree, which towered over her family's burrow. As she approached though, she found, to her dismay, that her new appearance hadn't gone unnoticed. Her family turned hostile, chasing her away, and her species lacked the communication skills to resolve the conflict.

Shunned, and isolated, the mouse set off on her own. She grieved the loss of her family, but was excited about the possibilities her new circumstances presented, even though she lacked the vocabulary to internally articulate these feelings.

Eventually, the sun rose on the first day of the pigmented rodent's new life, finding her sitting high in the branches of a tree, munching on a seed she had found, despite not being hungry. While she was still pondering her new direction in life, a flutter of feathers announced that she wasn't alone. A crow, ten times the mouse's size, came to a rest on the branch next to her, staring down with hungry, glassy eyes.

The mouse had been frightened when monolithic aliens had been battling all around her, and even more so, when one's foot stomped the life out of her. This bird, on the other hand, was decidedly less intimidating. The mouse felt brave, and more importantly, she felt _powerful_.

The crow lunged with its neck, meaning to kill the mouse in one peck. Instead, the mouse shot backwards, and then pounced, headbutting the shadowy fowl squarely between the eyes. The crow squawked, and almost fell off the branch, just managing to sink its talons into its bark, that is, until the mouse pounced again, sinking her teeth into one of the crow's wing, weighing it back and pulling it cleanly off the tree.

The bird fell, a writhing mass of feathers and claws, and hit the ground, the mouse landing nimbly next to it. The crow scrambled to its feet, unable to get away from the mutated rodent fast enough, and took to the sky, with a plume of black, dislodged feathers.

This was certainly not a mouse to be messed with.

She didn't stop there, for many more years than any mouse had ever lived, the mouse travelled the world, righting wrongs, and battling evil, or at least, her definition of those things. Primarily, she faught predators, starting with birds, then graduating to snakes, then larger mammals, like raccoons, and even wolves.

Eventually, the mouse encountered her greatest test yet...

In a small clearing, beside a Gem landing craft, three bulky, Homeworld Gems, a Topaz, a Jasper and an Amethyst, stood together, awaiting orders, and discussing the planet. They had been in the midst of comparing their favourite weather anomalies, when the Topaz crouched slightly, before lunging to the ground.

"Topaz...?" The Jasper commented, in confusion.

The Topaz grinned, and stood up. "Look what I just found!" She proudly declared. She held up her hand, with a finger and thumb pressed together, firmly holding the tail of a frantically struggling shrew.

"Haha! No way!" Amethyst snorted. "I knew earthlings were puny, but this is something else!"

"It's like it doesn't even realise that it can't escape..." Jasper laughed, leaning in close as the shrew continued to struggle.

Topaz let the shrew sit on her palm, while still holding its tail. With her other hand, she gently pinned its head down. "I can't believe life survives here. It would barely take any pressure at all to..."

Topaz trailed off, as something tiny and pink shot up her leg, bounced off her shoulder into her hand, where it sank its teeth into her thumb, causing her to gasp and release the shrew. Then, the pink thing shot at her forehead like a bullet, making her cry out in pain and stagger backwards into a tree.

"What was that!?" Amethyst cried.

She and Jasper hopped back and forth, worriedly looking at their feet, lest they share Topaz's fate. In between the three Gems, the augmented field mouse crouched amongst the grass, cautiously eyeing the three hostile Gems, planning her next move.

She shot from her hiding place, hitting the Jasper squarely in the knee, forcing her to crouch down, and before she could correct herself, the mouse flew up the tree behind her, and shot back down, hitting her in the small of her back, and sending her crashing to the dirt.

Amethyst and Topaz gritted their teeth, and summoned their weapons; a pair of throwing knives, and a rounded battle-axe, respectively. With a battle cry, the two charged forwards. Amethyst threw one of her knives, and Topaz swung her axe overhead. What happened next, was almost too fast to track, certainly too fast for the Gems to defend against. With a barely audible squeak, a shimmering, pink portal opened in front of the mouse, into which, Amethyst's knife flew, before emerging from a second portal, behind Topaz, and flying into her back.

Topaz's eyes widened, and her grip on her axe loosened. The mouse leapt through her portal, over topaz's shoulder, and slammed into the axe, sending it flying forwards, plunging into Amethyst's torso. With a burst of smoke, the two Gems' forms were disrupted.

"What... are you...?" Jasper grunted, crawling backwards, defensively. "Some kind of Crystal Gem geoweapon!?"

The mouse looked up at Jasper, oblivious to the words she was saying, and their meaning. She squeaked again, barely any louder than last time, but with a significantly more dramatic effect. The forest shook, as though a bomb had been detonated, and a screaming Jasper was hurtled through the canopy, and sent crashing to the ground, a good distance away.

As long as the three Gems lived, they never abused another rodent...

The years ticked by, and the war ended. The mouse was alarmed, but otherwise unaffected by the blast of white, yellow and blue light that exploded from the sky. The earth's Gems became fair less malicious after that. They took on monstrous, inhuman forms, but the pink mouse barely noticed the difference. She just noticed that they tended to stop attacking harmless creatures, unless they were attacked first, so for the most part, she left them alone.

The mouse was thousands of years old, on the fateful day when she was roused from an afternoon nap, in a forest canopy, by the sound of a brutal fight. Below the mouse, a small group of Gems were fighting. The mouse was acutely aware that three of the Gems were the human-shaped ones from before the war, and they were fighting one of the newer Gem monsters.

After the fight, the mouse finally noticed the fifth individual. He had the size and hue of a human child, but something about him triggered old and unexplainable feelings, deep in the mouse's gut. The warm, familiar kind of feeling the mouse had used to feel, when curled up in her burrow, with her family. Of course, this also brought on alarm and confusion, as she had no idea who the boy was.

The mouse chased the group through the forest, as they walked and talked, until they reached a wide, stone disc, and stepped on. Just as the mouse was about to join them, a column of light exploded upwards, and the group was gone. The mouse sat on the pad, feeling frustrated. Even though mice weren't inclined towards feelings like scientific curiosity, she knew the child was important somehow, and she needed to find him. More to the point, she somehow knew where he'd gone.

With a quiet squeak, the mouse summoned a portal, and hopped through it, onto a bright, sunny beach. Nearby, was a wooden, human building, beneath a gigantic stone structure. Excitedly, the mouse climbed up the steps as fast as she could, onto the wooden porch, and towards the door, formulating a plan to gain entrance.

Sadly, the mouse's adventure ended there, along with her life, as an enormous, pink lion leapt onto the porch, from the beach, pounced and promptly swallowed her, before she could react. Lion stuck his tongue out and retched slightly, like he had a hairball, and his eyes shone more intensely than they ever had before. Before long, though, he calmed down, and, after walking around in circles a couple of times, sat down on the porch.

The house's door opened, revealing Garnet. She stepped outside, subtly looked around, and adjusted her visor.

"Is everything alright, Garnet?" Came Pearl's voice from inside.

Garnet frowned in confusion. Next to her, Lion nuzzled her hand, pushing his nose in-between it and her leg, forcing her palm onto his forehead. Garnet looked down, and scratched the feline's forehead, before turning back towards the house.

"It's nothing." She decided, before heading back inside.


	4. English Dub

**This one goes out to all you anime fans out there.**

* * *

The sun shone down on the bustling city of Tokyo. The streets were crowded with cars and pedestrians alike, and electronic billboards lined the buildings like a mechanical rainbow. While 'ordinary' was always objective in any metropolis so large, it seemed like a typical enough day, until, one by one, the citizens' eyes were drawn to the sky.

What started as a black pinprick, expanded, bleeding across the brilliant, blue sky like an inkblot, as the object neared. The first few people to notice, simply stopped and stared in alarm, before noticing, to their horror, that a meteor was hurtling directly at Tokyo.

Enough chaos ensued, for the news to spread and the streets to clear. Cars were abandoned, and the masses flooded clear of the object's trajectory. Before long, a spherical boulder, the size of a truck, came plummeting through the city's skyline, leaving an ominous trail of black smoke in its wake, before hitting the ground with an earth-trembling crash.

The meteorite tore through the road, leaving a trail of dislodged tarmac, and destroyed cars in its wake, before slowly grinding to a halt. Even after it stopped, black smoke poured from its surface, as though there were a raging flame inside.

Slowly, the crowds began to return, as Tokyo's braver citizens closed in to investigate the ominous meteorite. As the crowd neared, a collective shudder and cry of alarm radiated outwards, as a crack suddenly burst along the space rock's surface, as though it were a hatching egg. Further supporting this analogy, something began to emerge. Amidst a fresh burst of black smoke, a dark figure began to take form, a tall woman with pitch black features, outwards-spiking hair and pointed shoulder pads. A black, square Gem sat on her chest. Her only feature that wasn't a deathly black, was her sinister, glowing white eyes.

After materialising, she slowly descended to the meteorite, and held her arms out in greeting. "How... very... marvelous..." She declared, in a confident, yet sinister tone. "A planet with people sentient enough to follow commands, yet not advanced enough to exile me... Where Homeworld clung to their obsolete Diamonds, this world shall know the rule of OBSIDIAN!"

As she announced her name, she flourished her hands, and wisps of smoke flew from her form, into the crowds. People immediately panicked. With a collective scream, the crowd flooded away. The less fortunate of them, though, were assaulted by the smoke balls, which flew into their faces. Those affected, took on a ghostly hue, and their eyes turned pitch black. They immediately stopped running, turned around, and bowed deeply to Obsidian, dropping to their knees and pressing their palms on the street in front of them.

Still standing on her meteorite, Obsidian cackled as smoke continued to fly from her body, pursuing the fleeing humans.

Quite suddenly, the malicious Gem's laughter was interrupted by the shrill cry of a human child. "Stop there, villain!"

The bombardment of smoke stopped, and Obsidian turned. Standing confidently in the freshly vacated streets, were three human girls, around thirteen years of age (not that Obsidian was able to guess with such accuracy.) All three were wearing school uniforms, consisting of check skirts, and grey tops with red bows, but they were distinguished by their somewhat gaudy jewelry, matching their primary-coloured hair.

Standing confidently in the centre, with an excited grin, was a girl with a long, crimson ponytail, and a medallion with a circular red stone in the middle. To her left, was a girl politely standing to attention, with her hands grasped in front of her, and a serene expression, her hair was long and smooth, reaching her lower back, and was navy blue, matching her lone, droplet-shaped earing. Finally, there was a nervous-looking girl with sunflower yellow pigtails, tied with orange bows, and a bracelet, boasting a small, yellow, diamond-shaped Gem.

Obsidian stepped down from the meteorite, and slowly strolled towards the girls. "And who might you be, to address your new queen, in such a vulgar way?" She sneered.

The girl in the middle smirked, as though she was hoping Obsidian would say that. With no visible signal between them, the three girls struck overly-dramatic poses, and the red-haired girl announced, "We are the Gemstone Magical Girls! Ruby Riko!"

"Lapis Lin..." The blue-haired girl added, in a calm monotone.

"Citrine Suzuki!" The girl with yellow hair finished.

Before Obsidian could comment on the bizarre turn of events, the girls' jewels began radiating blinding light, and they lifted up into the air. With a flash of light, matching the colour of their stones, the girls' clothes changed from humdrum uniforms, to flamboyant outfits in their chosen colour schemes. In a flash, Riko was wearing a superhero mask and cape, along with arm length, fingerless gloves, Lin manifested a pointed witch's hat and accompanying cloak, and Suzuki was wearing a latex body suit with lightning bolts running down the arms.

Obsidian cocked an eyebrow in casual interest, before thrusting her arms forwards, sending a barrage of smoke in the girls' direction. Lin and Suzuki darted left and right, while Riko flew upwards, remaining in the air, after the smoke hit, her cape fluttering behind her.

"Lin, get the civilians to safety! Suzuki, create a perimeter!" Riko ordered, before cracking her knuckles and locking eyes with Obsidian, who was glaring back at her. "Ruby and I will handle this menace..."

Obsidian lifted the palms of her hands, like a necromancer, raising the dead. Instead, her ghostly victims rose to their feet, turning to face the girls. "Subjects! Detain those malcontents and bring them to me!"

In a snap, hundreds of mind-controlled pedestrians charged at their would-be saviours. A woman in a red dress leapt up and grabbed Riko's ankle, dragging her down to earth, despite the child's kicks and protests.

With a crash, a fire hydrant, next to Lin, exploded, sending a fountain of water shooting into the air and raining down on the street. The blue-haired girl gestured with her hand, her earring glowed, and a mass of gravity-resistant water flew at the woman, tackling her away from Riko, before pinning her to a building on the side of the street, and turning to ice, securing her by the waist.

Lin held out her arms as water swept around her like a whirlpool, and she examined the approaching crowd of black-eyed civilians. "Please stand down. We're here to protect you..." She sighed.

When that didn't work, she began hurling orbs of water at her attackers, each one forcing them back and pinning them to buildings and the street, as they froze.

Meanwhile, Suzuki leapt over the crowds, bounding from street lamps and billboards, chasing Obsidian's smoke balls and victimised subjects. Eventually, she found the point between them, and the civilians, still running for their lives. Hanging from a brightly-coloured billboard, Suzuki clenched her fist and her bracelet glowed. Lightning crackled around her fist as a glaring ball of light manifested in it. Eventually, she threw the ball of energy like a tennis ball. After it hit the street, lightning exploded outwards, darting between the buildings, forming a wall, which violently repelled any of Obsidian's ghoulish subjects, who tried to run through it.

"Stay here please! We'll get this straightened out soon!" Suzuki nervously shouted over the noise.

Back at the impact site, Riko flew at Obsidian, fist first, her cape flying behind her. Effortlessly, Obsidian met Riko's fist with her forearm, and sent the child flying backwards with a jump kick. Riko flew backwards into a building, and before she could recover, Obsidian flew at her, too fast to track. The sinister Gem held Riko in place with a hand pressing firmly at the base of her neck, and with her other, she examined her pendant. Up close, Obsidian noticed that the Gem in the medallion was a Ruby, with several shallow cracks running across its surface.

"Oh, now it makes sense!" Obsidian remarked, sounding triumphant and amused. "You three brats found some leftover scraps from the war! Gems who are too broken to take form without a body to base themselves on. Look at the little whelp..." She sneered at the Ruby. "Too broken to even talk."

"Maybe she just doesn't have anything to say to you..." Riko sneered resentfully.

Riko lifted her feet and thrust them at Obsidian's chest. As she did, a plume of flames shot from her soles, forcing the shadowy Gem to withdraw. Riko braced her hands and both burst into flames (apparently causing her no discomfort), before she flew at Obsidian, throwing punch after flaming punch, as Obsidian countered and evaded, with just a trace of concern.

"It took an entire platoon to take me out on Homeworld, you really think some runty human and a broken Ruby stand a chance?" She taunted.

"She may be hurt... I may be small..." Riko grunted, as she continued her onslaught. "But together we're twice the Gem, you are!"

Eventually, Riko managed to connect a kick to Obsidian's knee, and while she was stunned, Riko followed up with a flaming uppercut, flooring the Gem.

Obsidian gave a wicked grin, as she propped herself up. "You're out of your depth, little meat sack..."

She thrust her hands forwards, and a mighty funnel of black smoke shot at Riko like a train. Riko cried out in alarm and shielded her face defensively. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Ruby had projected a red bubble around her, but its surface caved inwards slightly, as Obsidian's black smoke whirled around and bore towards her. Riko's heart sank, as, with a hiss, smoke began to pour into the bubble. The small human squeezed her eyes shut, covered her face and held her breath, hoping it would protect her from the mind-controlling smoke.

The seconds ticked by agonisingly. Riko was moments away from taking a deep, smoky breath, when the onslaught stopped. A mass of water shot into Obsidian like a train, and lifted her into the air, before the water lit up like a lightbulb, as lightning danced over its surface. Obsidian screamed for just a moment, before a black bubble encompassed her, and expanded outwards, sending water showering across the street.

She dropped to the ground in an action stance, noticing all three Magical Girls, closing in around her. She stood up and turned around in a circle, frantically, a desperate look in her eyes. "You... you can't do this! Back on Homeworld I was..."

"You failed on Homeworld..." Lin idly pointed out.

"And you're about to fail here." Suzuki added, with a disapproving frown.

With a thrust of Lin's hand, a barrage of knife-sized icicles flew at Obsidian, which she shielded herself from at the last second, with a circle of swirling smoke, before summoning a second, to block a continuous bolt of lightning from Suzuki. With her back to Riko, Obsidian could only flinch and give a defeated whine, as a plume of flames tore through her chest, leaving a gaping hole where her Gem used to be, and as it clattered to the ground, Obsidian's body faded away like a wisp of smoke.

The dazzling display of powers came to a halt, and the three girls doubled over slightly, as their exertion caught up with them. All around, the people who had been under Obsidian's spell, most of whom were trapped by blocks of ice, were beginning to groan in discomfort and rub their eyes.

"Good job girls." Riko proudly said, as she picked up Obsidian's Gem.

Not long later, on a nearby rooftop, the three girls stood around the black Gem, which had carefully been placed on the floor.

"Ready?" Riko asked.

After confirmation was given, the three girls pointed their palms at the Gem and concentrated. Their own Gems glowed, as Obsidian lifted into the air and, a moment later, was secured in a white bubble. Lin placed her hand under the bubble and held it up as high as she could. Riko took a couple of steps back, before leaping forwards and punching the bubble as hard as she could. It rocketed from Lin's hand, almost instantly vanishing into the sky.

"I hope she ends up on a nice planet with no people to enslave..." Suzuki sighed, wistfully.

"As long as she's not terrorizing Tokyo, I don't care..." Lin replied.

"Well, she isn't." Riko proudly pointed out, before grinning excitedly. "Thanks to..." She hinted.

Instantly, the three struck the same post they had in the street, and chorused, "The Gemstone Magical Girls!"


	5. Undercover Boss

**Hey all, sorry again for the delay. Busy with work, etc. This chapter is one I wanted to write for my Pink Diamond origin story, In the Pink, but I never found room for it, which is a shame, because after everything I was wrong about, it would have been funny how close this was to the truth. I probably won't be writing any more for this story, at least until December, as I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo this year, so that'll be taking up my writing time.**

 **Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

"Jasper! Rubies!" Pink Diamond called.

On one of Homeworld's intertwining streets, the youngest Diamond ran over to a small platoon, consisting of a Jasper with short, spikey hair, and a handful of Rubies. These Gems technically made up Pink's court, but really, they had been gifted to Pink, by Blue and Yellow, to make her feel less useless. With no colony to protect, they simply patrolled Homeworld, waiting for Pink to come up with something for them to do. At Pink's side, ran Pink Pearl, with a Gem on her navel, and a playful smile on her face, matching her Diamond's.

The Gems immediately saluted, at the sight of their matriarch. "My Diamond!" They chorused.

Pink rolled her eyes and made a shooing gesture. "Ugh! You don't have to do that!" She said, far from the first time. "I thought up a new game for us to play!"

One of the Rubies gasped loudly, and held her face in excitement. "Yay! Your games are so fun!"

Pink crouched down, to be closer to the smaller Gems' eye level. "Okay, here's how it works- I'll cover my eyes and count to thirty-seven, and while I do that, you guys run and hide, and wait for me to find you!"

"But... why? My Diamond?" Jasper nervously asked, resisting the urge to salute again.

Most of the Gems giggled, including Pink Diamond. Of all the Gems in Pink's small court, Jasper always struggled the most with the concept of fun.

"Okay Jasper... Pretend I'm an Omitraxian Geowolf, and if I catch you, I'll eat you!" Pink suggested. "It'll be exciting, like running for your life, but not scary, because I promise not to actually eat you!"

Satisfied that everyone understood, Pink covered her eyes, and began to loudly count. Pearl, Jasper and the Rubies immediately ran in different directions, most of them laughing gleefully as they did. High up in one of Homeworld's towering spires, Yellow Diamond peered out of a window, at the scene, with disapproval on her face.

"She's doing it again..." She groaned, irritably.

Behind her, Blue Diamond sat at a console, busying herself with the design of an off-world Kindergarten. She tapped the side of the display, and a live surveillance image of Pink popped up. Blue smiled, warmly.

"Playing with her Gems?" Blue guessed, watching Pink count, with her hands over her eyes. "Isn't she just wonderfully unique?"

Yellow frowned, as though that wasn't the reaction she'd been hoping for. In the street below, Pink reached thirty-seven, and declared, "Okay! Here I come!" She looked around, and her eyes wondered up to the tower, seeing Yellow. She jumped up and down and flailed her hands excitedly. "HEY YELLOW!" She shouted, happily.

Yellow couldn't help but smirk slightly, as she extended her hand in greeting, although her expression quickly darkened again, as she turned away from the window, and joined her fellow senior Diamond. "You call her unique like it's a good thing..." She sighed. "She was supposed to be like us!"

"What does that mean?" Blue asked, with a gentle laugh. "We're completely different!"

"Not entirely..." Yellow argued. "We both command respect and obedience! Can you imagine Gems treating her the way they treat us!?"

Blue tapped on her console some more, and it displayed a Ruby, crouched behind a fuel pipeline, barely containing her giggles, as Pink ran past.

"Well, one way or another, her Gems are doing as she says." Blue pointed out, with a smile.

"And what they're doing... is hiding from her for... fun..." Yellow sneered, as though each word left an increasingly sour taste in her mouth, as she leaned over Blue's shoulder, monitoring the game. "Not only is that uncharacteristic for a Diamond, it's not even how Gems act!"

"And how exactly do Gems act?" Blue asked, absent-mindedly, as she got back to her Kindergarten plans.

"Respectful! Practical! Efficient!" Yellow angrily listed. "Like her!"

She gestured to the door, where her Pearl had been waiting, with her nose in the air and hands held behind her back. She smirked proudly at her Diamond's compliment.

Blue looked away from her screens and turned her chair slightly, to look at Yellow. "Yellow, has it ever occurred to you, that your perception of how Gems typically behave, is simply how they behave around _you_?" A few seconds went by, without Yellow answering, and Blue looked down at the foot of her chair, where her own Pearl was sitting at a smaller workstation. "Pearl, how does Yellow's Pearl behave, when she's not around?"

Blue Pearl turned from her monitor, but remained staring downwards, her face concealed in her lifeless mop of hair. "She's... bossy..." She sighed.

Over at the door, Yellow Pearl pursed her lips and fumed anxiously, as her Diamond got an insight into her individuality.

Blue Diamond deactivated her screen entirely, turned to face Yellow, and stroked her chin, thoughtfully. "I suppose in a way, neither of us really know what Gems are like, left to their own devices... Not even Pink could say for certain..."

Yellow began to walk back to the window. "It's a shame, it'd probably help us root out disobedience and heresy, if we had that extra understanding of..."

Before Yellow reached the window, she heard a chiming sound from behind her, the sound a Gem made while shapeshifting. Yellow cringed, before she turned around, fearing she already knew what she would find. Blue had shrunk, her majestic form with its flowing robe, changed into that of a Tanzanite, still proportionately tall Gems, with sharp, formal suits and white fringes which hung over one eye. Of course, in her smaller form, Blue Diamond's Gem took up half of her torso but, with a sparkle of light, it was promptly concealed by a navy-blue poncho.

"No..." Yellow bluntly reacted. "There are more dignified ways of gleaning this information."

Blue hopped down from her chair, and ignored Yellow, turning to her Pearl, who showed no reaction to her transformation, whatsoever, unlike Yellow's, who was looking at Blue Diamond in shock, like she had taken the form of an organic primate and was scratching herself.

"Pearl, please stay here, in case Peridot 6LW has any questions about the Kindergarten. You can tell her I shan't be long." She instructed.

"Yes, my Diamond." Blue Pearl quietly replied.

"This is ludicrous." Yellow sighed, in annoyance. "I'll have no part of it."

"Goodbye Yellow." Blue cordially replied, with a slight smile.

She made her way to the door, where Yellow Pearl was still visibly struggling to restrain her emotional reaction. The subservient Gem trembled slightly, saluting Blue Diamond as she passed. Out in the hallway, Blue Diamond felt a sense of uplifting freedom. It was exciting, playing the role of a Gem without the staggering responsibilities of a Diamond. She hadn't even encountered any other Gems yet, and already, Blue felt like she had a better understanding of the carefree nature of Pink, and her Gems.

After strolling through the labyrinthine corridors for a few moments, Blue homed in the sound of scuffling and commotion. On the other side of a large set of double doors, Blue Diamond found a cavernous training arena. Two dozen bulky Gems, of various cuts, were spaced around the floor in pairs, violently dueling. A tall, stern Opal with a tight, white hair bun surveyed the scene, with her arms folded.

"Oh..." She reacted, after Blue Diamond walked in. "You the last one from the Amaquad Brigade?"

Blue knew what Opal meant, having sent the order to withdraw that very brigade, herself. "Yes..." She began, serenely, before catching herself, and gruffly clearing her throat. "Yeah. Got myself chipped out there, had to go get patched up."

"Well, glad you're fighting fit." Opal said, with a grin. "Hey H92! Take five. 7BY, show me what the rookie can do!"

Opal slapped Blue Diamond on the back, encouragingly. Blue barely managed to restrain her shock before it reached her face. As far as she could remember, no Gem besides another Diamond had ever laid a hand on her, deliberately. Now that she thought of it, that was considerably lonely...

Nearby, a pair of enormous Jaspers paused, in the midst of wrestling each other to the ground. They stopped, in response to Opal's order, and the slightly smaller of the two retired to the stands, flexing her shoulders as she went. The remaining Jasper towered over Blue, at least a foot taller and almost three times the size of Blue's new, slender form.

"So, one of Blue Diamond's Tanzanite's, huh?" She noted, with a grin. "You want me to take it easy on you?"

"You... think I need you to?" Blue said, improvising her trash talk, trying to sound confident. "Is that what they say about Blue Diamond's Gems?" She gently pried.

Jasper cocked her head and smiled patronisingly. "You guys aren't exactly known for your ferocity..."

Jasper clenched her fist, and an enormous claymore appeared in her hand, almost as large as she was, which broke into two points, half way down its length. Blue braced herself. It was been millennia since she had last personally engaged in battle, and even longer since she'd manifested a weapon, but theoretically, both should be well within her skillset.

Blue swept her hand, and an elegant rapier appeared in it, with a blade so thin, it was barely visible, and a swirling, jewel-encrusted guard. For a second, Jasper's confident leer faltered, as she admired the exquisite weapon. But she soon recovered, and struck the first blow.

Blue Diamond effortlessly ducked a horizontal swing of Jasper's sword, and then side-stepped as she thrust forwards. The Jasper reminded Blue of Yellow, in that she was passionate and emotional, and allowed herself to be driven by said emotions, especially as Blue continued to evade her, and she got increasingly frustrated.

"Fight... back...!" Jasper ordered, between thrusts, and strained breaths.

"If you insist..." Blue replied, with a coy smile.

She lunged forwards and slashed, so fast, it looked like her form was glitching. Jasper flinched and recoiled, only noticing after she did, that her sword had been cut in two, just above the hilt. The blade fell away and hit the floor, before vanishing in a flash of light. Blue followed up with a jump kick to the chin and then slashed with her sword a second time. Blue delivered a shallow cut, diagonally across Jasper's form, just shy of disrupting her, but causing her to collapse to her knee, and her form to flicker.

It wasn't just Jasper who was impressed. Several of the surrounding Gems had stopped to stare, in response to Blue's vicious strike, including Opal. Exhilaration cascaded across Blue's form from her Gem. It was such a thrill to actually exert herself for once. Perhaps she could convince Yellow to spar with her, once her experiment was complete?

Jasper climbed to her feet, a grin slowly spreading across her face. "You are something else, pipsqueak!" She laughed, endearingly. Suddenly, she pulled Blue into a playful headlock. Blue barely recognised the friendly gesture in time to resist impaling Jasper in defense. "You gotta show me how you did that lunge, some time!"

Contrary to Jasper's intention, Blue's emotions were in turmoil. Roughhousing was something she had never acclimatised to. The friendly, yet respectful message, combined with the forceful physical contact, played havoc with Blue's unprepared mind. Suddenly, quite without warning, the room took on a navy hue. Jasper released Blue's head and fell to her hands and knees, pressing one hand to her forehead and wincing in distress. All of the other Gems in the room shared her affliction, many of them gasping of crying out in alarm, and Blue quickly mimicked them, before her cover was blown, hastily calming herself.

Eventually, the room returned to its normal colour, and the Gems slowly began to recover, and climb to their feet.

"Been a while since that happened..." Someone said.

"What was that!?"

"Blue Diamond's on site, that can happen when she gets emotional." Opal informed the group.

"But... normally it just makes you feel real sad!" Someone pointed out, in alarm. "That was like... anxiety or something!"

It was true. Blue didn't think she'd ever felt an emotion strongly enough to trigger her pathokinetic powers, except her namesake sorrow. Although she was intrigued to learn that her Gems had become accustomed to her radiating sadness when she was distressed.

"Come on, everyone." Opal said, in a serious voice. "Maybe we should take this outside..."

While the Gems filed out, Blue Diamond took the opportunity to slip away. She left the building through an alternate exit, and took a seat on the edge of a walkway, looking up, wistfully, at Homeworld's enormous bust of White Diamond. Blue had been right. Gems were completely different when Diamonds weren't around, and the way her new Jasper associate acted was easily the most similar to Pink. Did that mean that that _was_ the normal way for a Gem to behave, and that Yellow and Blue had been stifling themselves?

Yellow would disapprove of the entire train of thought, of course. She'd say that how Gems wish to act is inconsequential, because Diamonds were different, and superior, and that if Pink wanted to act the same way as other Gems, then that was a problem which needed to be corrected. Then Blue thought of the happy smile on Pink's face, and knew, deep in her Gem, that she could never disapprove of Pink's quirks and mannerisms, no matter what Yellow and White said.

Pink was jarred quite suddenly from her train of thought, as Pink Diamond lunged at her from behind, wrapping her arms around Blue's torso, and crying, "I found you!"

Pink looked down at the top of Blue's head, and frantically released her. "Oh gosh! Sorry! I thought you were my..." Pink trailed off, as Blue straightened her poncho, and turned around to face her. "Oh... hey Blue! Why do you look like a Tanzanite? Are you playing a game, too?"

"How... did you know it was me...?" Blue asked, in surprise.

Pink giggled. "No one else has such a melodramatic expression, Blue."

Blue laughed gently, and, after a shifty glance left and right, resumed her usual form, still sitting on the edge of the walkway. Pink smiled fondly, and climbed into her lap.

"I was just carrying out a social experiment." Blue explained.

"That sounds fun!" Pink replied. "What did you learn?"

"Well... Yellow was worried that you don't behave like an ordinary Gem..." Blue delicately began. "But honestly? I'm starting to think she and I might be the odd ones... to say nothing of White..."

"Well, who'd want to be something boring like normal, anyway?" Pink replied. "You're you! That's the best thing of all, you could be! And I love you, Yellow and White, just the way you are."

Blue smiled endearingly, and pulled Pink into a tight hug. "I love you too, sweetheart."

Quite suddenly, Pink tensed up, and pulled herself free from the hug. "Oh! My Gems are still hiding! Come on, we have to find them!"

Blue laughed gently, as she climbed to her feet. "I think that sounds more like a job for a Tanzanite."

With a sparkle, Blue Diamond took her smaller form, and the two Gems raced down the walkway, in search of Pink's friends.


End file.
